he's dan schneider. a man with a gift.ift of knowing what is funny to people of a certain age. say, 12 or 9. what do you got going that other folks aren't figuring it out? >> for one thing, i am always trying to outdo the last thing that i do. >> reporter: the last thing he did, well, the last few nickelodeon hits he created included "the amanda show." "zoey 101." "drake & josh." >> it wasn't us. >> who do you think they're going to believe, you boobs or me? >> reporter: okay, freeze it and zoom in right now. enough dan schneider for the moment because tell your kids you watched an interview with her, miranda cosgrove who played a kid sister back then but now, now she's the carly of "i carly," the story of a 16-year-old girl in seattle who makes web shows with her friends sam and freddie. >> and we're clear. >> reporter: a show within a show. with a lot of the zany, of course. >> pucker up. come and get it. >> reporter: in reality, miranda cosgrove is 17 and a superstar. if you know which universe to look in. obviously, yo

>> reporter: he's dan schneider, a man with a gift.d audience is definitely my bread and butter. that's what i'm paid to do. i'm paid to get kids from all the way from 6 to 14, glued to tv sets. that's my goal. that's my sweet spot. >> reporter: there's not a shot without schneider's imprint on it. he's constantly tweaking the joke, asking for retakes. >> the reveal of miranda, she was making a funny face, something like this. and i thought, put the tongue out. >> reporter: there's more there. >> a teeny bit funnier. it's that highbrow comedy that pushes "icarly" over the edge. >> reporter: he says it's a challenge to figure out what kids will laugh at. >> i heard of a lot of writers who say, oh, you're writing for kids. kids will watch anything. that must be really easy. actually, it's kind of harder because your parameters are more narrow in what you can write for a kids show. sex, politics, religion, all that stuff you have to avoid. we can't make reference to what happened seven years ago because kids don't know what happened seven